MotifPad. A little image. A new perspective.THE BEAD WORKSHOP
Design a kandi pattern on an editable bead grid,
choose colors, and print the layout with bead counts.
Choose a palette color, then paint your first bead. Empty positions are not included in the count.
Click or tap one bead at a time. On the focused chart, arrow keys move; Enter or Space paints; Delete erases. Coordinates provide the same controls.
Letter key, bead counts and shifted rows
Preparing your example…
Making a fuse-bead design? Open the Perler tool →Physical validation by an experienced beader is pending. This is a flat color-placement chart, not a cuff joining or threading tutorial.
FROM AN IDEA TO INDIVIDUAL BEADS
Begin with a picture.
Or draw from a blank grid.
Start with an empty bead grid to draw a small motif, or turn an image into a kandi pattern using PNG, JPG or WebP. The converter samples your image at the shifted bead positions and maps each position to the nearest of eight palette colors. Transparent areas use color A as the background.
Simple silhouettes and bold bands are easier to read at bead scale than fine photo detail. Set the dimensions and image fit first, then adjust individual beads. A blank grid contains no beads until you paint them; an image conversion fills every position, including the background.
Make your first bead chart ↑ONE DEFINED STITCH LAYOUT
Half a bead to the side.
Keep the geometry when printing.
Placement diagram · not a thread path
This version supports a flat brick-stitch color chart. Row 1 sits at the bottom; even-numbered rows shift half a bead to the right. Each row has the selected number of positions, so the outside edges alternate. Column numbers identify positions within a row, not vertical stacks of beads.
Brick stitch connects beads to the thread bridges of the preceding row, commonly starting from a ladder-stitch foundation. The chart records color placement; it does not generate that foundation, a thread path, increases, decreases or a closure.
It does not support tubular peyote, multi-stitch cuffs, loom layouts or wrist sizing. Bead shape and tension affect the finished proportions. Make a small physical sample before scaling up.
The Beadworkers Guild: brick-stitch method ↗SMALL EDITS, CLEAR TOTALS
One letter per palette color.
Counts follow your edits.
Select a palette letter, then click a bead to paint it. Choose Erase bead to remove a position, or use the coordinate controls. Keyboard users can move with arrow keys and paint with Enter. Erased positions are empty, not white beads.
Change a palette color to recolor all beads with that letter. Up to eight color groups keep the chart readable. These are editable screen colors, not a matched shopping list. Compare them with the actual beads you have.
The palette shows each letter’s bead count; the total excludes erased positions. Undo and Redo retain 30 editing actions, including color changes. Changing dimensions, image fit or source starts a new chart and clears that history.
Erasing beads can create unsupported holes or disconnected areas. The editor does not validate a continuous thread path or prescribe shaping. For a continuous panel, paint a background color instead of erasing it.
A CHART FOR YOUR WORKTABLE
Shifted rows stay shifted.
Letters remain readable without color.
The PDF includes a color key with per-color counts, then numbered chart sections of up to 25 positions × 25 rows. The letters identify bead colors; blank outlines are unoccupied positions. Row offsets remain tied to the global row numbers across page boundaries.
Read sections from left to right in bands, beginning with the bottom band. Use the row and column labels to follow a complete row across pages. Print with Fit on Letter or A4; the boxes are chart symbols, not life-size beads.
Download the Ripple sample PDFThe sample is fixed. Use the workspace download button for your edited chart. Physical assembly and print validation are still pending.
Flat brick stitch only, using alternating half-bead row offsets. It does not calculate tubular peyote, cuff joins, wrist measurements or loom threading. The layout section explains the supported geometry.
Yes. Paint or erase one bead with a click, use row and position coordinates, or use the keyboard. Palette changes recolor all beads with the same letter. The PDF uses your current edits and counts.
Yes, with PNG, JPG or WebP up to 20 MB and 24 megapixels. A photo is reduced to the current eight-color palette. Crop around your subject first, then review the shifted rows and simplify any scattered details.
This version does not design or join a cuff. It provides flat brick-stitch color placement only. A tubular cuff requires its own stitch layout, fit and closure planning; do not assume this chart wraps correctly.
No. Perler uses fuse beads on a pegboard; this tool uses offset rows for flat brick stitch. Use the Perler bead pattern maker for a pegboard plan and its bead counts.
Images are processed in your browser. When you switch tools in this tab, the source image and dimensions can pass through temporary browser storage; the transfer is deleted when read. Unused transfers expire after one hour and are cleaned up at the next transfer. Bead edits and stitch geometry do not transfer to the other tools. A blank drawing has no source to transfer. Download your chart before leaving.
Not yet. The example comes from the digital editor. Physical validation by an experienced beader, including a printed chart and small stitched sample, has not been completed.